One Switch alternative: the toggles you actually use
One Switch collects a dozen macOS toggles into one $4.99 menu bar panel. Notchy puts the three most-reached-for — Focus, keep awake and AirPods — on the notch, free. It does not do the display switches, and says so.
| One Switch | Notchy | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99 lifetime, or via Setapp | Free — optional donations |
| Do Not Disturb / Focus | Yes | Yes |
| Keep awake | Yes | Yes |
| Connect AirPods | Yes | Yes — plus battery per bud |
| Dark mode, Night Shift, True Tone | Yes | No |
| Hide desktop icons | Yes | No |
| Where it lives | Menu bar dropdown | The notch — no menu bar space |
| Anything beyond toggles | No | 50+ tools in the same island |
From Fireball Studio’s own site and Setapp listing, checked against Notchy’s shipping build.
One Switch has switches Notchy doesn't
Dark mode, Night Shift, True Tone and hiding desktop icons are all genuinely One Switch's and not Notchy's. If flipping appearance a few times a day is the reason you are looking, that is the app.
The overlap is the part you use daily
Focus and Do Not Disturb, keep awake and connecting AirPods — the three toggles anyone reaches for, all free.
A dropdown versus a glance
One Switch is a panel you open. On the notch the state is already visible — whether Focus is on, whether the Mac is being kept awake — so you often do not need to click anything to know.
Don't subscribe for one app
One Switch is on Setapp, but $9.99 a month for a toggle panel is poor value unless you use several Setapp apps. The $4.99 lifetime licence is the sensible route if you do buy it.
How Notchy stacks up
Honest, feature-by-feature comparison of every major macOS notch app — no affiliates.
| Feature | Notchy | Alcove | NotchNook | Boring Notch | DynamicLake | MediaMate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 100% Free | $17 one-time | $25 (or $3/mo) | Free (Open Source) | Paid | Paid |
| Minimum macOS | macOS 13 Ventura+ | macOS 14 Sonoma+ | macOS 14 Sonoma+ | macOS 14 Sonoma+ | macOS 14 Sonoma+ | macOS 14 Sonoma+ |
| Architecture | Pure SwiftUI (Native) | Swift (Native) | Swift (Native) | Swift (Open Source) | Swift (Native) | Swift (Native) |
| Now Playing Controls | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| AI Usage Tracker (Claude / Codex / Cursor) | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Command Palette (⌃⌥K) | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Localized (134 languages) | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Clipboard History | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Pomodoro Focus Timer | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| File Stash / Drop Shelf | Yes | — | Yes | — | — | — |
| System HUDs (Volume/Brightness) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| AirPods Connected Reveal | Yes | Yes | Yes | — | — | — |
| Lock Screen Widgets | Yes | Yes | — | — | — | — |
| Quick Notes | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Calendar Widget | Yes | — | Yes | Yes | Yes | — |
| Caffeine Toggle | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Synced Lyrics | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Image Converter (HEIC/JPG/PDF) | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Apple Reminders Capture | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Audio Output Switcher | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Device Battery (Mouse/Keyboard) | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Download Finished Alerts | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Run Apple Shortcuts | Yes | — | Yes | — | — | — |
| Camera Mirror / Webcam Preview | Yes | — | Yes | — | — | — |
| Zip & Unzip Files | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Hide the Notch | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Window Snapping (drag to notch) | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| App Launcher Tab | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| OCR + Searchable Clipboard | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Text Snippets / Expander | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Menu-Bar Icon Hiding | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| System-Wide Mic Mute | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Live System Stats (CPU/RAM) | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| iPhone-Style Call Island | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Built-In Terminal | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Camera/Mic Privacy Indicator | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
Everything Notchy does, for free
- Fluid Dynamic Island animations on the Mac notch
- Command palette (⌃⌥K) — every action one keystroke away
- Knock — double-tap a modifier key to open the notch
- AI usage tracker (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Copilot)
- Detach any tab into a menu-bar popover
- Now Playing music controls (Apple Music & Spotify)
- Time-synced karaoke lyrics under the notch
- Mac clipboard history shelf (password-manager safe)
- Searchable clipboard — filter by text, file name, or OCR'd words
- On-device OCR — copy a screenshot, get its text (Apple Vision)
- Window snapping — drag a window to the notch to tile it
- App Launcher — pin apps to the notch, open with one tap
- Text snippets — TextExpander-style pastes from the ⌘K palette
- One-tap screen capture to clipboard + shelf
- Color eyedropper — sample any pixel, hex auto-copied
- System-wide mic mute for every meeting app at once
- Keystroke HUD for demos & screencasts (secure-input safe)
- Keyboard cleaning lock with countdown island (⌘⎋ unlocks)
- Menu-bar icon hiding — Bartender-style separator & chevron
- Live CPU / memory / network stats flyout
- Open GitHub PR count in the notch (Keychain-stored token)
- iPhone-style call island — Answer/Decline FaceTime on the notch
- Notch Terminal — real VT100/xterm shell in a PTY, its own tab
- Privacy Indicator — pill when any app's camera or mic goes live
- Caps Lock HUD — brief island on every toggle
- Full Charge island with adjustable threshold + low-battery sound
- Alt HUD styles — edge-pinned bar or circular gauge off the notch
- Audio-reactive Now Playing visualizer (real FFT of system audio)
- Custom closed-notch idle animation — drop in your own Lottie JSON
- Drag-and-drop file drop shelf — persists across relaunches
- Zip & unzip files right from the shelf
- Image converter (HEIC, PNG, JPEG, TIFF, PDF) + video → GIF
- Run Apple Shortcuts with one tap
- Screenshots auto-staged on the shelf, ready to drag
- Download finished alerts with Reveal in Finder
- USB drive mount island with one-tap Eject
- Apple Reminders quick capture & due list
- macOS Pomodoro notch timer & stopwatch — streaks + 7-day chart
- Resizable expanded panel (width & height, live preview)
- System HUDs (volume, brightness, battery)
- Audio output switcher (speakers, AirPods, monitor)
- AirPods connection manager & battery
- Magic Mouse, Keyboard & Trackpad battery + low-battery alerts
- Quick notes & Calendar widgets
- Camera Mirror (check your appearance)
- Keep Awake (caffeine toggle)
- Teleprompter (Cuely) for Zoom calls
- Focus-aware alerts & native haptic feedback
- Lock screen widgets & hide-the-notch mode
- 133 languages, fully localized
- Native SwiftUI, tuned for Apple Silicon
Notchy vs One Switch — FAQ
How much is One Switch?
$4.99 for a lifetime licence direct from the developer, or included in a Setapp subscription at $9.99 a month. There is a 7-day trial with no prepayment. Notchy is free with no tiers.
Does Notchy replace One Switch?
Most of it, not all. Notchy covers Do Not Disturb, keep awake and AirPods connection. It does not toggle dark mode, Night Shift, True Tone, or hide desktop icons — so if those specific switches are why you want One Switch, it still has them and Notchy doesn't.
What do both do?
Do Not Disturb and Focus states, a keep-awake toggle so the display doesn't sleep during a download or presentation, and connecting AirPods without going into Bluetooth settings. Those are the three switches most people actually reach for.
Where do the toggles live?
One Switch is a menu bar dropdown. Notchy puts the same controls on the notch, which costs no menu bar space — worth something on a 14-inch MacBook where the cutout already splits the bar in two.
Is Setapp worth it for this?
Only if you use several Setapp apps. Carrying a $9.99 monthly subscription for a toggle panel makes little sense on its own — the $4.99 lifetime licence is the better buy if One Switch is the app you want.
Can I run both?
Yes, nothing conflicts. A reasonable setup is One Switch for the display toggles it uniquely has, and Notchy for Focus, keep awake, AirPods and everything else in the notch.
Compare Notchy vs 146 Mac Apps
See how Notchy replaces dozens of single-purpose paid Mac utilities for free.